Archive for April, 2010

Next Tuesday, April 20th, the NanoBusiness Alliance, the world’s leading nanotechnology trade association, will hold a special one-day event, NanoBusiness Conference/NYC http://www.nynanobusiness.org/ being held on the 5th floor of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square.

Co-located with the NYBA (New York Biotechnology Association) Annual Meeting http://www.nyba.org/meeting/annualMeeting being held that week, the NanoBusiness Conference/NYC will feature a series of sessions with leaders in finance, government and science.

Today, we have the opportunity to share the thoughts one of the leaders in our Nanotechnology Community, Peter Hébert, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Lux Capital. The interview was conducted by Author, Steve Waite.

Lux Capital’s http://www.luxcapital.com/, focus is on investments in advanced materials, energy technology and semiconductors. Peter began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he worked in the firm’s top-ranked Equity Research group. In 2000, he co-founded Lux Capital. In 2003, Peter led the spin-off of Lux Research. As founding CEO, he helped build Lux Research into the leading emerging technology research firm. Peter launched the publicly-listed Lux Nanotech Index [AMEX: LUXNI] and the $150 million PowerShares Lux Nanotech Portfolio [AMEX: PXN].

Peter manages Lux Capital’s investments in Accelergy, Angstrom Publishing, Everspin Technologies, Lux Research, Luxtera and several stealth energy ventures. He was a Chancellor’s Scholar and graduated cum laude from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. Peter was the Founding President of Syracuse’s first venture organization, Future Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs. He has been an invited speaker, guest lecturer and panelist at CNBC, Bloomberg, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, and the National Science Foundation. Peter also co-founded Young Wall Street, a charitable organization supporting youth-related causes in New York City.

Lux Capital is one of the premier venture capital firms in nanotechnology. In this interview, we talk to Peter about what Lux Capital is up to these days and explore the nanotech landscape. We hope you enjoy the interview.

SW: Hey, Peter! It’s really great to speak with you today. Thanks for taking the time talk to us. I wanted to explore with you what’s going on with Lux Capital and discuss the nanotech investing and product commercialization landscape. Can you give us an update on what’s going on at Lux Capital today?

PH: Great talking with you as well Steve.

We’ve been extremely busy at Lux Capital over the past 12 months – creating new companies from scratch and backing early-stage companies with transformative technologies. With more than 20 active investments, we’re also spending a large portion of our time and energies working intimately with existing portfolio companies. This means helping with business development, product marketing, company positioning, recruiting management and of course preparing for future financings.

The world of nanotech investing has changed dramatically in the past 5 years. Most of the lower-quality, me-too ventures have exited stage left. A handful of segment leaders have consolidated their positions (both large corporations and start-ups). Throughout this winnowing process, we’ve seen great leaps forward in the commercialization of nanoscale science and technology. Whether it’s in life sciences, alternative energy or electronics – many of the most fundamental advances pushing new boundaries can be attributed to precise control of material properties at the molecular level.

Probably the biggest shift in nanotech has been from the initial focus on input materials to what our portfolio company Lux Research coined “nano-intermediates.” The initial focus on building blocks like nanotubes, nanowires and nanoparticles has evolved to developing higher value applications like batteries, solar PV and drug delivery systems.

SW: What are some of the more conventional nano-enabled innovations you are seeing at Lux Capital that may have a bright future in the market in the years ahead?

PH: Well, we’ve definitely moved beyond Dockers stain-proof pants and nano-enabled sun tan lotion! To be more specific, there is a wide-array of compelling nanotech products hitting the market in 2010. Nanosys is rolling out a quantum dot LED backlight for consumer electronics devices, with partner LG. Cambrios is using nanotechnology to replace rare earth metals Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) for touch screen devices found in mobile phone and tablet computers. Molecular Imprints is already shipping nano-imprint lithography machines to hard disk and semiconductor manufacturers.

SW: What are some of the unconventional nano-enabled technologies you have come across that you think deserve wider recognition?

PH: One interesting application is in the area of nanophotonics. Luxtera has pioneered and since commercialized the integration of complex optics and electronics onto a single nanoscale chip. Another Lux portfolio company Accelergy is using nanoscale catalysts to help convert abundant coal resources into cleaner liquid jet fuel, in partnership with ExxonMobil.

SW: A123 System’s IPO was a success last year and the company seems to be getting traction in the market. What are the prospects for nano-enabled batteries and storage technology?

PH: There will be huge opportunities in the energy storage – both for batteries and ultra-capacitors. A123 Systems really led the way, but there are a number of venture-backed start-ups dramatically changing the industry’s economics. Nanosys developed a proprietary additive for lithium ion battery anodes that enables its partners (battery cell makers) to improve capacity by more than 30%. Contour Energy Systems is another interesting VC-backed company in this area.

SW: Since I mentioned IPOs, let me ask you what Lux Capital’s view is on prospects for seeing more companies coming public with nano-enabled products in the near future?

PH: It’s obviously a question that is top of mind for most VCs. The answer is less about nano-enabled products and more about ramping revenues, great management teams and telling a story that resonates with Wall Street. A123 was able to tap the public markets because they were generating close to $100 million in annual revenues and the buy-side loved the electric vehicle and grid storage story.

SW: There was a time when Nanosys was seen as the premier nanotech company and there was a great deal of excitement about a Nanosys IPO. Lux Capital is an investor in Nanosys. How is the company doing these days?

PH: Nanosys has made tremendous progress over the last few years – but it has done so without using a megaphone. While Nanosys now boasts more than 700 patents, its biggest breakthrough was developing products that global customers are clamoring to buy. Its core business is now in two areas: LED lighting and batteries. Their LED backlighting innovation was covered extensively in recent articles by The Economist and Barron’s. Stay tuned for even more exciting news in the next several months.

SW: How does Lux Capital view the role of nanotech in the commercialization of clean technology? It seems to me there is tremendous opportunity for innovation with clean technology and nanotech. Have you seen anything in the nanomaterials space recently – in solar, for example, or elsewhere – that has knocked your socks off?

PH: There will be many great applications of nanotechnology in the area of alternative energy. Nanotech is poised to dramatically reduce cost for flexible, thin-film solar photovoltaics. That said, at Lux Capital, we believe solar PV is a challenging area for venture investment. The technologies are incredibly complex and finding a way to reliably manufacture the materials in high volumes has been a difficult – not to mention costly – odyssey. If all those challenges can be solved, you find yourself in a brutally competitive commodity market dictated almost entirely by price.

We put our money where our mouth was for two exciting energy applications we identified – both investments are today operating in stealth. The first company has pioneered a novel innovation in natural gas technology, while the second demonstrated world record energy efficiency in power conversion. We believe both technologies will leave industry insiders with their jaws on the floor, when announced.

SW: Semiconductors and microprocessors are going deeper into the nano realm. What types of innovations are you seeing in this space that will create more powerful chips in the future?

PH: Electronics has been probably the most aggressive industry to commercialize nanotechnology – and in truth, has been in the nano realm for a decade. We’re investors in Everspin, which leverages spin of an individual electron to form basis for electronic memory. We helped lead the company’s spinout from Freescale Semiconductor in 2008 and the business has had considerable revenue growth with global customers including Siemens and Emerson.

SW: We are seeing nanotechnology converging with biology. What kinds of innovations do you see emerging from the convergence and who are the researchers that are doing the most innovative work in this area?

PH: Nanotechnology isn’t just converging with biology – it is giving researchers a whole new understanding of how the body works and how we can better treat disease. The field of RNAi is hot in the scientific world. The research has garnered Nobel Prizes and has led to billions of dollars worth of start-up acquisitions by Big Pharma because it’s an area with tremendous potential. Yet, there is a massive challenge in being able to deliver RNAi and protect it from the body’s natural defense mechanisms. Many believe that nanotechnology is the best bet to be able to solve this critical problem.

More broadly, drug delivery is one of the main hot beds of innovative nanobiotech research. Dr. Robert Langer at MIT is rightfully referred to as one of the key pioneers in the field. His work continues to lead the way, but if you want to find some of the real rising stars in the area I’d look at some of his progeny like Dr. Justin Hanes at Johns Hopkins.

SW: The NIH has been financing a lot of nanotech-related cancer research. Are we likely to see some blockbuster nano-enabled cancer therapeutics in the near future?

PH: We invested in MIT-spinout Cerulean because we firmly believe the answer is “yes.” Cancer is a notoriously difficult opponent, but by using some of the advantages offered by nanotechnology, we can attack its few remaining weaknesses. Employing a sophisticated nano-architecture developed at MIT, Cerulean is able to deliver significant payloads directly into cancerous tumors, sparing the rest of the body from the awful toxicities associated with standard treatment.

SW: More broadly speaking, how does Lux Capital see nanotech impacting the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors in the years ahead? What areas do you see as the most attractive investment opportunities today?

PH: Nanotech approaches have already led to incrementally better drugs and this trend will absolutely continue in the years ahead. These improvements have led to successful new drugs, like Abraxane, making it to market providing better outcomes for patients and making billions for investors.

At Lux, we think the really big changes in store will be the result of technologies that deliver new functionalities. New ways of treating disease – not just marginally improving toxicity or increasing bioavailability. For example, one of our most recent stealth newcos has taken a counterintuitive approach to overcoming one of the body’s natural barriers and has demonstrated a first ever functionality never seen before in drug delivery.

SW: What are some of the more popular consumer products on the market that are nano-enabled and what kind of innovations are we likely to see in the years ahead?

PH: One breakthrough nano-enabled consumer product comes courtesy of the brilliant engineers at 60Ghz pioneer (and Lux investment) SiBEAM. The company’s fundamental breakthroughs at the nanoscale enabled multi-gigabit wireless home networking between consumer devices. You can find SiBEAM’s technology today in HDTVs at Best Buy from customers like Sony, Panasonic and later this year Vizio.

SW: What advice do you have for entrepreneurs exploring nanotech who are looking for funding?

PH: An entrepreneur can often feel like a brutal, fruitless journey. My advice is to remain persistent, listen to feedback and adapt, and most importantly, find customers who want your product.

SW: One last question. How are things going with the Forbes/Wolfe newsletter? Do you see the general investing public’s interest in nanotechnology rising in the future?

PH: We’ve had a great partnership with Forbes since 2002 and have recently expanded our relationship to publish articles on Forbes.com, publish a Weekly e-letter (Forbes Weekly Insider) and online blog (ForbesWolfe.com), as well as host a Video channel. I believe investors will remain enthusiastic about emerging technologies that have the potential to transform industries and marketplaces. Nanotech will be a major driver in that new reality.

SW: Thanks again for your time today, Peter. We wish you and your partners at Lux Capital continued success in the future.

PH: Thank you Steve. We could not be more excited!

I would like to thank Peter and Steve for their time and for sharing their insight with our Nanotechnology Community.

Next Tuesday, April 20th, the NanoBusiness Alliance, the world’s leading nanotechnology trade association, will hold a special one-day event, NanoBusiness Conference/NYChttp://www.nynanobusiness.org/ being held on the 5th floor of the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square.

Co-located with the NYBA (New York Biotechnology Association) Annual Meeting being held that week, the NanoBusiness Conference/NYC will feature a series of sessions with leaders in finance, government and science, and will include presentations from the following:

In 2009 we moved our large annual NanoBusiness conference to Chicago, we believed the NanoBusiness Alliance still needed to produce a special event for our New York City-based constituent. We found a strong strategic partner in the NYBA, and we are proud to co-locate our New York event with their highly-respected conference.

Today, the NanoBusiness Alliance, the world’s leading nanotechnology trade association, announced a special one-day event, NanoBusiness Conference/NYC http://www.nynanobusiness.org/ being held at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square on Tuesday, April 20th.

Co-located with the NYBA (New York Biotechnology Association) Annual Meeting being held that week, the NanoBusiness Conference/NYC will feature a series of sessions with leaders in finance, government and science, and will include presentations from the following:

In 2009 we moved our large annual NanoBusiness conference to Chicago, we believed the NanoBusiness Alliance still needed to produce a special event for our New York City-based constituent. We found a strong strategic partner in the NYBA, and we are proud to co-locate our New York event with their highly-respected conference.

The NanoBusiness Alliance and the Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance today announced that the 3rd annual Nano Renewable Energy Summit will return to the University of Denver, CO, from May 24-25, 2010. http://www.nanoenergysummit.org/

The Nano Renewable Energy Summit is a gathering of world-renowned experts at the intersection of renewable energy and nanotechnology, with a specific focus on the business, commercialization, and economic development potential of emerging technologies in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors. http://www.nanoenergysummit.org/program.php

Denver had been the home of our Nano Renewable Energy Summit for the past two years, and it’s clearly the perfect market for our event. We look forward to continuing our important dialog on the future of sustainable energy with our growing family of participants from all over the world.

“Innovative nanotechnologies are emerging as game-changers in applications across the renewable energy sector,” said Griffith Kundahl, Executive Chairman, Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance. “Breaking business developments in solar and other key renewable energy markets will be in the spotlight at our international summit.”

The Nano Renewable Energy Summit is presented in conjunction with the Golden, Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). For information on sponsoring or exhibiting at the Nano Renewable Energy Summit in Colorado, please contact Vincent Caprio (www.vincentcaprio.org) at vincentcaprio@nanoenergysummit.org.

The NanoBusiness Alliance’s (NbA) Washington, DC Roundtable on March 15-17, 2010, was a huge success. Below is a summary of the NbA Federal Roundtable on March 17, 2010.

Convened in Foley & Lardner LLP’s http://www.foley.com/home.aspx lovely conference room overlooking the Potomac River from the office’s Georgetown perch, the day-long Federal Roundtable was intended to familiarize NbA members and supporters with a detailed and informative overview of all aspects of federal oversight of nanotechnology. Specifically, the NbA identified three meeting objectives: stimulate dialogue between NbA members and federal agencies; brief members on the latest regulatory policy/impending regulatory actions and federal research initiatives; and familiarize NbA members with federal product approval authorities and processes and innovation strategies, with an emphasis on pending developments. The agenda is available online http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/NbAagenda.pdf.

I www.vincentcaprio.org, Executive Director of the NanoBusiness Alliance, introduced the first substantive panel, moderated by Richard Canady, PhD DABT, Senior Advisor, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP. The session, titled Regulatory Policy Movement for Nano – Cross-Agency and International Perspectives, featured presentations by Travis Earles, Assistant Director for Nanotechnology, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President. Travis reviewed the state of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, noting that continued growth in both overall funding (projected at $1.7 B for 2011) and environmental, safety and health research ($117 M). He told the audience to keep an eye out for more details on the newly announced NNI Signature Initiatives. Travis noted that the Administration is working hard to ensure clear regulatory pathways for innovators. A new high-level interagency task force on emerging technologies will look at this and other issues affecting commercialization. Dr. Shaun Clancy presented a PowerPoint presentation available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/clancy.pdf titled the Importance of Policy and International Activities to NbA Companies. The presentation reviewed key domestic and international policy, standard-setting, and regulatory initiatives pertinent to NbA members, and explained the reasons why early and consistent engagement in these activities is essential for sound policy setting and effective product stewardship.

Next Dr. Celia I. Merzbacher, Vice President for Innovative Partnerships, Semiconductor Research Corporation, provided a very informative PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/merzbacher.pdf titled Nanoelectronics Research Initiative: How Public Private Partnerships Add Value. Dr. Merzbacher described how SRC member companies and federal agencies cooperate, through the NRI, on long-range research to ensure that Moore’s Law will continue. Given Dr. Merzbacher’s current industry role and former position with OSTP, her insights into what makes for successful public-private partnerships were targeted, informative, and very useful.

The next panel was moderated by Charles M. Auer, Charles Auer & Associates, LLC, titled Chemical and Consumer Product Risk Management Policy and Regulatory Actions. Charlie was Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics until early 2009, and was responsible for managing EPA’s regulatory initiatives pertinent to nanoscale materials, among many other chemical regulatory initiatives. Charlie was also deeply engaged in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) initiatives dealing with nanotechnology and other chemical management initiatives, and continues to engage in OECD matters in private practice. Charlie’s first two speakers discussed current regulatory approaches. First up was Bill Jordan, from EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, who spoke about how the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) applies to nanomaterials with pesticidal or antimicrobial properties. Next, Jim Alwood, EPA Chemical Control Division, gave a presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/alwood.pdf titled TSCA Nanotechnology Regulations at EPA. The presentation provided an up-to-the-minute review of regulatory initiatives under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) pertinent to most other nanoscale materials. Finally, Dr. Jeff Morris, EPA Office of Research and Development, described EPA’s long-term research program to develop new methods for integrating safety and environmental impact studies of nanomaterials into a full lifecycle assessment, covering design, development, use, and disposal. He emphasized the collaborative nature of this process, stating that everyone in the room needed to work on it together, and noted that EPA has commissioned a National Acadamies study to help plan the effort. Dr. Morris’ excellent PowerPoint presentation, Future Considerations for Nanotechnology EHS: Informing Policy and Regulatory Decisions, is available online http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/morris.pdf. It provides a compelling basis for understanding EPA’s need for data to inform the Agency’s risk management decision-making efforts.

The next panel focused on nanotechnology policy and guidance developments pertinent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Foley & Lardner’s David Rosen, Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Industry Team at the firm, moderated the session. David introduced Dr. Mitchell A. Cheeseman, Deputy Director of the Office of Food Additive Safety, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, who discussed FDA’s efforts in this area. Mitch’s PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/cheeseman.pdf titled Regulatory Hurdles for Nanotechnology, provided a useful outline of the challenges regulated entities face in obtaining approvals for food-related products. Joining Mitch on the panel was Dr. Subhas G. Malghan, Deputy Director for Program Policy and Evaluation, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Subhas walked through a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/malghan.pdf titled Science and Regulatory Issues Relevant to Devices Containing Nanoscale Materials, which reviewed issues pertinent to medical devices approvals. The third panelist was Larry Tamarkin, CEO of CytImmune. Larry described his company’s anticancer therapeutics. CytImmune has worked closely with the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory to develop data supporting FDA product approval, and has completed Phase I clinical trials for their lead product.

Following a luncheon break, the Federal Roundtable reconvened with a panel discussion on workplace and worker protection issues moderated by Dr. Sam Brauer. Sam introduced David O’Connor, Director, Office of Chemical Hazards, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). David’s PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/oconnor.pdf titled Nanomaterials: OSHA’s Approach to Protecting Workers from Potential Hazards, provides a useful overview of OSHA’s approach to nano workplace safety. Dr. O’Connor noted that OSHA’s general mandate is to ensure that workplaces are free from recognized hazards that could cause death or serious harm. Nanotech manufacturers are certainly included in this charge, but there have been no nano-specific actions to date. OSHA enforces Permissible Exposure Limits for many materials; in the absence of specific information about the hazards of nanoscale versions of a material, these are legally applicable although it is not generally known if they are protective. General requirements for the use of personal protective equipment, including respirators, should of course be followed. Dr. Charles A. Geraci, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (NIOSH/CDC) spoke next. Chuck gave a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/geraci.pdf titled Nanotechnology: Collaboration Opportunities for Workplace Safety. Chuck noted that NIOSH has a long history of working in the “gray zone”, using experience-based approaches which adapt existing frameworks to new situations by focusing on what may be unique. He emphasized that regulators and industry share responsibility for occupational safety and health, and provided a thorough review of opportunities to collaborate with NIOSH on worker health and safety issues. Next, Dr. Kristen M. Kulinowski, Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, International Council on Nanotechnology, Rice University, walked through a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/kulinowski.pdf titled Collaboration on Nanotechnology Workplace Safety: Tools for Nano Businesses. Kristen’s presentation summarized key issues with respect to collecting reliable information on workplace nano hazards, and explained an extremely useful tool for business – the GoodNanoGuide, http://GoodNanoGuide.org – an Internet site which presents specific practices for safe handling of nanomaterials by workers or researchers. This is a community-generated site, and NbA members are encouraged to become both users and contributors.

Next, Lynn L. Bergeson, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C., a Washington, D.C. law firm, provided a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/bergeson.pdf titled Effectively Navigating Your Business around Uncertainties: Making the Most from Careful Planning, Regulatory Awareness, and Smart Planning. The presentation expressed the reasons why NbA members must engage early and often with regulators, legislators, and health and environment public interest groups to ensure businesses’ message is clear, its commitment to stewardship is known, and its science is understood.

Richard Canady, PhD DABT, Senior Advisor, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP, next went through a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/canady.pdf titled The Evolving Regulatory Landscape for Nanomaterials. The presentation summarized the preceding presentations, pointed out that both legal requirements and regulatory philosophies vary both across and within agencies, reiterated that NbA members need to engage with government officials and present businesses’ views on responsible commercialization of nanotechnology. For example, he noted most nanomaterials safety studies to date have looked at hazards but not assessed exposure risks. Businesses could advocate for safety studies which more accurately reflect actual or proposed uses.

The final panel, moderated by Philip Lippel, PhD, was titled Advising the NNI-NGO Input to Research Priorities and Regulatory Issues: The Roles of the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel and the National Academies of Sciences. Terry L. Medley, Global Director, Corporate Regulatory Affairs, DuPont, provided a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/medley.pdf on the recently concluded Third Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Terry offered his insights on the PCAST review process, discussed the summary recommendations, and speculated about their impact on future directions of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. (The full Report to the President and Congress… http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-nano-report.pdf is now available from the Office of Science and Technology Policy.) Terry serves as a member of the Nanotechnology Working Group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which authored the report.

Next, NbA was pleased to hear the remarks of Dr. Jennifer Sass, Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and also a member of the PCAST Nanotechnology Working Group. Dr. Sass provided an overview of NRDC’s interest in nanotechnology and its perspective as a very large non-governmental organization (NGO).

Following Dr. Sass, Ray Wassel, Senior Program Officer, Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology, National Research Council (NRC), described work just getting underway, under EPA sponsorship, to develop a research strategy for environmental, health, and safety aspects of engineered nanomaterials. Further information on this 4-year project, with an interim report due late next year, is available on the National Academies’ website. http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49173

The afternoon keynote slot featured Anne Meagher Northup, Commissioner, Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC),who offered her perspective of the CPSC’s role in ensuring consumer products are safe. She discussed the Commission’s challenges given the scope of its mandate, and its plans for discharging its responsibilities.

Following Commissioner Northup’s remarks, Lloyd Whitman, Deputy Director, Center for Nanoscale Science & Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce, gave a PowerPoint presentation, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/whitman.pdf titled Supporting the Nanotechnology Enterprise from Discovery to Production. The presentation emphasized that industry receives high priority in using CNST’s advance resources for fabricating and characterizing nanomaterials, in line with NIST’s mission to support U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness.

The final presentation of the day, available online, http://www.enobis.com/pdfdocs/murday.pdf was given by Dr. James S. Murday, Director of Physical Sciences, University of Southern California. Jim reported on an NSF Sponsored Workshop: Partnership for Nanotechnology Education at the University of Southern California. His presentation provided an overview of why creating partnerships for nanotechnology education is an excellent way to promote nanotechnology and ensure its sustainability. Jim urged the nanotechnology community to become involved in efforts to develop uniform science education standards, noting that due to current reform efforts, we may have a unique opportunity over the next year to make students better prepared for careers in nanotechnology.

The Federal Roundtable provided an invaluable opportunity to meet many of the key government and other stakeholder representatives engaged in policy and regulatory initiatives directly relevant to NbA members, to hear about these critically important developments, and to engage with these stakeholders in a casual business setting. The Federal Roundtable accomplished our goals set for the NbA, and we look forward to another roundtable in 2011.